The Black Lake
Sirius sat silently in the sand of the Black Lake near Hogwarts. His brother dove in head first only seconds ago, the water hadn’t even finished rippling yet. Even so, Sirius couldn’t see Regulus’ movements as he watched the surface. He knew what was waiting at the bottom of that lake, his parents spent years terrifying him and Regulus with the stories of the lake and the horrors that it held. Regulus was always the most affected by those tales.
Somehow, Regulus became the strong one this time. Sirius wasn’t used to the feeling of his usually weaker seeming brother showing no fear when doing something so incredibly reckless. But they knew that there was no getting out of it if they didn’t do something. Sirius couldn’t bear the thought of Regulus not popping up after reaching the cave below the lake.
Minutes felt like hours as Sirius waited, he knew that there was a good chance that he would have to jump in after Regulus. He knew that if he didn’t, his little Reggie would be gone forever. But his hands shook, his mind raced with the thought of what may happen if he were to jump into the water. Sirius was more terrified than he could ever remember being.
Jumping between his parents and his brother seemed like no big task now. He knew they wouldn’t kill Regulus. But Regulus never held any will to prevent his death. Sirius knew that if it took a sacrifice, Regulus would do it. If it took violent crimes or life in prison, Regulus wouldn’t even hesitate.
Sirius had more to lose than he realized.
Sirius checked the watch in his hand. It had been two minutes, he had no choice, he had to dive into those wretched waters after his brother.
With a shaky breath in, Sirius stood, planting his feet on the ground for a moment before forcing his swirling thoughts down, taking a running start;
The world slowed down around him as Sirius raced to the water, jumping in like he would have when he and Regulus were young. Like it was just them having fun in the lake by their childhood vacation home. He shut his eyes tight and held his breath.
The water was freezing. Sirius was just convinced that it was no more than two degrees from being ice.
He had to focus.
The lake certainly earned the name Black Lake. It was pitch dark under the surface. Sirius could just barely make out the pale hands reaching out to pull Regulus further under the water. Sirius zeroed in on his brother who seemed to be screaming for help though all that came out was bubbles of air.
Sirius reached out for his brother’s hand, Regulus’ grip was light, clearly not having much strength to hold on. Sirius knew how easy it would be to just allow the hands to pull him and Regulus to the bottom and turn them into vile, pale, ghastly creatures like them.
He couldn’t do that. He had friends, he knew Regulus had to live. He wanted to live too. Even for something as simple as just having one more meal at school with his friends. Just for the satisfaction of striding into his parents’ room, the horcrux in one hand and his wand in the other, his brother at his side. He knew that his parents had to be arrested for what they’d done to him and even more so to Regulus.
Fueled by the need to show his parents just how awfully wrong they were about himself and about his brother, Sirius swam with every ounce of strength he had. Sirius for once in his life was glad that Regulus was so small, he wasn’t the problem when it came to the might it took to swim to the surface. The inferi still grasped mercilessly at Sirius and at Regulus. But Sirius pushed them away, not allowing them any option to pull either sibling to the bottom.
As if Sirius wished it into existence, fresh air finally filled his lungs. Regulus coughed and sputtered as he forced the water from his lungs. Sirius picked Regulus up like he would have when Regulus fell asleep on the couch when they were just boys and carried his twin brother to the shore. Regulus gasped for air and Sirius could tell his throat was raw from the cold water he must have inhaled while being dragged that way. Sirius sat silently with Regulus in his lap, he didn’t have the strength in his body to do anything more than that.
“Are we still alive…?”Regulus muttered after some time, still clinging to Sirius like he would fall back into the water if he didn’t.
“Of course. I made a promise, didn’t I?”Sirius replied, trying to sound confident and strong like he always was.
“They wouldn’t stop. I thought I was-”
“Reggie, you were not going to die. And you still won’t. There’s no way I would ever let that happen.”
Regulus only nodded in reply, breathing an exhausted and exhilarated sigh.
It had to be them. It had to be these two boys. Only these two teenage boys knew the ins and outs of how awful the world could be. They knew that if their parents and these death eaters stayed in power, nothing would have changed. Sirius knew that he couldn’t have told his friends that he was going to do this because they would have insisted that he should get some sort of help, he knew that it would be some grand mission for the five of them. Regulus knew that if he told anyone but Sirius of his plan to replace the horcrux with a fake, they would have tried to stop him because he was the only heir left to the Black family fortune. They both understood each other more than they realized. They knew on a higher level than anyone else could have that something grand like a war would do no good. It had to be a silent, unspoken deed by someone with a high amount of power over the worst parts of the world they lived in.
This of course made the two Black siblings targets of the worst wizards in power. It put them in more danger than they could have realized.
It certainly wasn’t that they weren’t aware of the danger they were in now, they knew that they could be killed and probably would be for the ruse they’d created against the Dark Lord. But, they would gladly take that risk if they had to. It had already taken them months to devise the sort of plan that would lead to such an event.
The brothers sat in the sand of the Black Lake for at least another hour. It was the middle of the night, a week before they were due to start their 6th year at Hogwarts and they’d already gotten used to being silent when they snuck out and back into 12 Grimmauld Place. Though the plan diverged from that.
Somehow the plan had changed a million times as the two talked about it over their three months of summer break. Sirius wanted to wait until they started Hogwarts to get their parents arrested but Regulus didn’t want it to plague the rest of their school time. So they had gone back and forth for weeks about when to do it. Finally, they decided;
The weekend before they would attend Hogwarts, they would sneak out, place the faux locket in the bottom of the cave, replace the heirloom locket in their mother’s living room display and call the Ministry Of Magic via a letter which included moving pictures of the horrors the boys had lived through at the hands of their parents in order to cause the arrest of both Orion and Walburga and to reveal what they had done to the world by doing so. They knew the arrest of their parents would be a big enough story to get the press into their home to begin with, so the end of the plan was easy enough to accomplish.
So the boys trudged through the forest and walked the roundabout way back to the city and to 12 Grimmauld Place. Unfortunately, Orion was still awake. He must have noticed the two of them weren’t in bed that night. Sirius swallowed hard as he straightened his spine as though nothing happened. He glanced over at Regulus who did the same protective maneuver, proper posture, hiding their secret behind the guise of only having snuck out to have a little fun that night.
“Where were you two?”Orion snarled at the two.
Sirius sidestepped and blocked Regulus from their father as he had grown accustomed to doing. “It was just a small midnight rendezvous as a little break before school, father. Nothing to scowl at.”Sirius beamed.
“You’re soaking wet. What’d you do? Jump in that horrid lake?”
“Well, of course. It’s always been a favourite. Didn’t you have any fun when you were younger, father? Or were you always this… demanding?”
Sirius’ words were met with a swift slap across his cheek and a warning to show more respect to his god-awful father. Merlin, was this going to be harder than he thought. Sirius slid his hands into his pockets, wrapping his fingers around his wand and taking a step back. Thankfully, Regulus had already stepped back himself, taking the hint from his brother. Sirius and Regulus leveled their wands at their father.
“STUPEFY!”Sirius shouted as a flash of red light shot from the end of his wand toward his father.
Orion’s scowl seemed to deepen as he flew backward, hitting the front door of their home, rendered unconscious by the jinx. Regulus swallowed audibly.
“One down…”Sirius muttered.
“Mom’s always harder.”Regulus whispered back to his twin.
“I know that. But we have no choice.”
Regulus nodded, tightening his jaw muscles as the two strode into the house they’d grown up in. Sirius knew that he had to allow Regulus the power of taking the next shot. Not that this would be easy at all for either boy. Thankfully, Walburga was asleep in her bed when they arrived at her bedroom doorway.
Sirius could hear Regulus mutter a practiced apology as he leveled his wand at Walburga and muttered the same incantation that Sirius had used against Orion. Sirius had to look away as Walburga’s body twitched just slightly as the spell hit her. The boys had unfortunately had plenty of practice having to stun and stop their parents and family members. They had grown stronger over the years due to the abuse their family members dealt toward them.
“Is the letter already written?”Regulus asked his brother as they closed their parents’ bedroom door and stepped out into the hallway with Sirius.
“Of course. Wrote it yesterday.”Sirius replied, nodding toward his bedroom down the hall.
Sirius looked around, taking in his childhood home once more before walking down the corridor to his bedroom. There were still holes in the walls and tears in the mattress from the many times when his father would drag him into the room to teach him lessons. Regulus would always try and break down the bedroom door because he couldn’t stand to hear Sirius’ screams. The thought killed Sirius.
Sirius shook himself from his thoughts as he walked over to his bed. He leaned down and picked up his pillow, taking a parchment envelope that had already been stamped and addressed the day before from the pillowcase. He clutched it tightly in his hand as he walked over to his bedroom window. In only seconds, an owl flew into the window, taking the envelope from Sirius’ hand and whisking it off to the Ministry.
Sirius’ stomach churned as he watched the black speckled bird fly away into the glow of the city lights. He felt so many things in that moment that he could hardly keep his composure though he knew that he had to. Sirius balled his fists, his polished black nails digging into the palms of his hands as he walked out of his bedroom to meet his brother in the den.
“At least the police have no business hours.”Regulus scoffed as he paced behind the brown leather couch.
“Regulus, you can relax. We got them. Things’ll change. They have to.”
“You can’t guarantee that anything will get better.”
“We’ll have the family fortune, no pressure to be an heir or to be anything we aren’t. No more fighting our immediate family to survive or being forced to do awful things for the sake of the family. We’ll be free. I don’t know if what we did will necessarily change the world, but it’ll change ours.”
“What if it’s not enough?”
“That’s why we have backup plans. Calm down, Reg.”
Seven ministers walked into the den and to the boys, two looking absolutely sympathetic while the others had rage filling their eyes. Sirius and Regulus only stood there, silently as their entire world was flipped upside down. Kreacher stood with them, acting as a parental figure like he’d always done for them.
It took only an hour for the Ministers to take Orion and Walburga into holding. Sirius and Regulus stayed up that night, enjoying the first real taste of freedom they’d ever gotten. Kreacher wrote a short letter to James, Sirius’ best friend to tell him what had happened and urge him to come to Grimmauld Place for emotional support. James arrived in only moments, using the floo chamber in the den to come to Sirius’ aid. That night, the four of them were nearly silent, not having anything to say after the night Sirius and Regulus had.